J.D. Irving, Limited traces its origins to a sawmill operated in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, by its namesake, James Dergavel Irving.[1] Ownership of J.D. Irving's operations passed to his children, one of whom—Kenneth Colin Irving—assumed majority control and used JDI to expand into pulp and paper and other forestry-related businesses between the 1920s and 1940s.
In the post-war years, JDI acquired pulp mills in Saint John and upstate New York, as well as sawmills throughout New Brunswick. During the 1950s, JDI took control of a shipyard in Saint John and established several trucking and heavy industry companies, such as Irving Equipment, to meet the growing needs of its operations.
As a major regional industrial conglomerate, subsidiaries of JDI have been involved in several notable incidents:
In 1970, an oil barge named Irving Whale sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, causing periodic oil spills until it was raised by the federal government in 1996.
In 2007, the Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd. mill at Reversing Falls accidentally released 680,000 litres of green liquor into the Saint John River. The company pleaded guilty and was fined $50,000. In November 2008, Environment Canada investigators exercised a search warrant at Irving Pulp & Paper's head office to gather further information about the spill.
In November 2008, JDI Logistics and Atlantic Towing made headlines following an accident involving the transport of two new turbines from Saint John Harbour to the nearby Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station. The subsidiaries had been subcontracted by Siemens AG—the turbine replacement subcontractor for NB Power, the facility's owner. The turbines, manufactured in Scotland, were shipped to Saint John aboard a cargo vessel on a road transport vehicle. During offloading onto a barge owned by Atlantic Towing Ltd., the cargo shifted, causing the barge to capsize and sending both the turbines and the transport vehicle into Saint John Harbour.
Later that month, the Atlantic Towing Ltd. dredging barge Shovel Master was being towed by the company's tugboat Atlantic Larch from Saint John to Halifax for a refit when it foundered in heavy seas 20nmi (37km) west of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The three crew members were rescued by a CH-149 Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopter before the barge capsized. Several Atlantic Towing tugboats and commercial divers responded; the tug Atlantic Oak secured a tow line to the capsized (but still floating) barge. The barge was towed 45nmi (83km) south of Yarmouth but ultimately sank in 150m (490ft) of water, carrying 70,000L (18,000USgal) of diesel fuel, 1,000L (260USgal) of hydraulic fluid, and 5,000L (1,300USgal) of waste oil.
Controversies
JDI’s ownership of most major media outlets in New Brunswick has sparked ongoing concerns about media concentration. A 2006 Canadian Senate report on media ownership singled out New Brunswick due to Irving's control of all English-language daily newspapers in the province, including the Telegraph-Journal. Senator Joan Fraser, the report's author, stated: "We didn't find anywhere else in the developed world a situation like the situation in New Brunswick."[5] The report further noted that "the Irvings' corporate interests form an industrial-media complex that dominates the province" to a degree "unique in developed countries." During Senate hearings, journalists and academics cited a lack of critical reporting on the Irving family's businesses in Irving-owned newspapers.[6]
Censorship concerns
JDI has repeatedly criticized CBC News and its New Brunswick provincial affairs reporter, Jacques Poitras.[7][8] In 2014, Poitras published Irving vs. Irving: Canada's Feuding Billionaires and the Stories They Won't Tell, which Bruce Livesey of Canada's National Observer described as detailing "the recent history of the Irvings' media holdings, as well as the deteriorating relationship among the Irving brothers and cousins as they squabble over the empire's wealth and future direction."[7]
On December 2, 2015, Poitras reported on Eilish Cleary's sudden leave as New Brunswick's Chief Medical Officer of Health, noting her concurrent research into glyphosate—a herbicide classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans" by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. The article briefly mentioned glyphosate's use by JDI and NB Power.[9] Two days later, JDI spokesperson Mary Keith released a "sharply worded" statement condemning the report as a "sensational story" that presented "an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory as fact," and falsely implied Irving's involvement in a conspiracy against Cleary.[10][11] Irving demanded CBC "immediately remove the story from their website, publish a full retraction, and apologize for their appalling behaviour." Poitras responded on Twitter: "We stand by our story."[10][12]
In 2016 and 2017, JDI filed two complaints with the CBC ombudsman seeking to bar Poitras from reporting on the Irving family; both were dismissed. CBC Ombudsman Esther Enkin stated that restricting Poitras would "would amount to a form of censorship."[7]
East Isle Shipyard is a shipbuilding facility in Georgetown, Prince Edward Island and owned by Irving Shipbuilding.[13] Located on Water Street with a single slipway along Georgetown Harbour, it is the province's sole active shipyard.
Founded as Bathurst Marine in Bathurst, New Brunswick, in 1961,[14] the yard relocated to Georgetown in 1965.[15] It operated under various names before adopting its current designation in the 1990s.[15] The yard built fishing trawlers in the 1960s, diversified operations in the 1970s, and specialized in tugboat construction from the 1990s onward.[15] Staff layoffs occurred in 2010 due to reduced orders.[16]
12"History". J.D. Irving, Limited. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
↑"About Us". J.D. Irving, Limited. Archived from the original on 17 August 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
↑"J.D. Irving, Limited". Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada. Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
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